Tuesday, March 24, 2009

In a Pickle

There is a restaurant in Mississippi that has the best fried catfish EVER! It is called Cuevas's Fish House and it is in the middle of nowhere in Kiln, MS. I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure the only claim to fame that Kiln can get credit for is Cuevas's. Their catfish is amazing, so good in fact that it is worth the drive to the middle of nowhere MS just to indulge. It is only about 30 minutes from my parents' home in Louisiana; so it isn't so unrealistic to suggest occasional trips to enjoy their golden fried fish. Last time I was visiting home I convinced the family to have dinner there on Saturday night. I have a big family, so we caravaned in several vehicles to partake in the all you can eat experience.

There were several patrons of the Fish House that got their money's worth - I could look around and tell. My family on the other hand, helped Cuevas's profit margin that night. First off, my dad is the world's lightest eater and half of our party was under the age of 5 - they weren't pounding too many slabs of catfish if you know what I mean. Secondly, we ordered appetizers - you never order appetizers at an all you can eat experience. It is like eating rice at a buffet, it is a filler that should be avoided in order to save room for the good stuff. But, when one of the appetizers offered is fried pickles, how can you refuse? Well folks, we didn't. And when I got home I told Forrest (who wasn't with me on my last visit) about the great food in MS and he asked that I make fried pickles at home. So I did...

Pour oil in a large skillet until the oil is about 1-2 inches up the side of the pan. Heat oil to 350 degrees.

Strain pickles in a small colander.

In a mixing bowl, whisk the yolks and 3/4 cup of the beer. Season the mixture with salt and pepper. Whisk in enough flour to form a batter. If the batter is too thick add the remaining beer to thin the batter.

Dip pickles one at a time using tongs into the batter and then place in the heated oil.

Fry pickles for about 2 minutes flipping the pickle after about 1 minute.

Place pickles on a plate lined with paper towel and then season with salt. Serve with Ranch Dressing.

Ha! I love your blog but I have to make a correction... Cuevas Fish House is in Picayune! We Picayunian's really don't get credit (or deserve) for much so we have to at least take credit for great fried pickles!

Oh, and Brett Favre is from Kiln. I think that's better than fried pickles anyway!

I'm Bizzy's mom and like her I mistakenly thought Cueva's was in Kiln. I live in Slidell and we always take the Kiln exit, so I guess that is why we thought that. But unlike my daughter, I was aware that Brett Farve was from Kiln. My brother lives in Picayune, and since I didn't know Cueva's was located there, I thought he was Picayune's claim to fame.......oh, well!!!!!!!

I stand corrected. I normally fact check those types of things, but I got sloppy last night. You caught me! You weren't the only one error checking yesterday's post - my mom pointed out four grammatical mistakes I made in addition to the geographical one. Sorry about that - rough night in the blogosphere!

I used Mazola Vegetable Plus oil. It was a blend of vegetable and canola oil and the bottle said Cholesterol free with Omega-3. It was my way of making me feel better about eating fried pickles. You could use any oil you like for frying the pickles as long as it doesn't burn easily.

I am so excited to get your recipe! I have eaten at Cueva's when we visit family in Miss. and I LOVE fried pickles... even found them on the menu at Sonic when we were in Ark last summer...thanks, dying to try them at home

Oh My Word...had to adapt a little, but these are awesome. I have a gluten intolerance, so I used 1/4 cup white rice flour, 1/4 cup tapioca flour, 1/2 cup Cornmeal, used buttermilk instead of beer and fried in coconut oil. Oh my word. thank you for the recipe. Been craving fried pickles and this definitely hit the spot.

Love this recipe! Simple and delicious.My home town in Northern California has a music festival every year and we have a food stand called Frickles. They're absolutely scrumptous. Oh, and you can get fried green tomatoes. Then there is a variety of dipping sauces. My favorite is their special Sierra Nevada spicy sauce. Wish I could get the recipe. Mmmm.

Anonymous,I am pretty sure I used a domestic light beer, probably Bud Light. But really any beer would work ask long as it isn't something very dark like a stout, but even an amber would probably be fine. It really isn't for flavor as much as it is for texture. So a light beer would be best in my opinion.

I have never even heard of fried pickles! (but hey,I'm a looong way from fried pickle country so can be forgiven,surely?) They sound yum scrumptious. Just imagining biting thru that crispy batter into the squishiness of those slightly salty & vinegarish pickle slices. mmmm Can't wait to try em!

To kick it up a notch...add Louisiana Hot Sauce (not Tobasco) to the Ranch Dressing. I use 1 tsp to every 2 Tbs of dressing. Hidden Valley used to have a Southwestern Ranch dressing, and this copies it pretty well.

You should try a fried tuna fish sandwich! Just dip the sandwich in the batter of your choice. I worked at a place in Garden City, Kansas in 1973 (1st job) and they had fried pickles and fried tuna fish sandwiches. For spice, add cayenne pepper to the mix!

I usually don't like dill pickles, but recently tried fried pickles during a trip to Texas. They tasted good, seemed to lose the dill taste during frying. can't wait to make them for the family. Thanks so much for the recipe!

I found this recipe via Pinterest and Foodgawker, and just made it. The pickles were delicious, and when I was done with those, I used the batter to make fried green beans too. They were amazing! Thank you for the recipe!

Love fried pickles! A restaurant here in Indiana called Buffalo Wild Wings (it's a chain so I don't know where else they may be) serves them with a southwestern sauce. Yummy! Also I agree with another poster. Dip them in flour before you dip them in the batter to make the batter stick better. I've made them at home and the brand of pickle has a lot to do with the flavor. Some are much saltier than others. Experiment and find the best for you.

Omgosh Cuevas's really is in the middle of nowhere!! And it really does have the best catfish ever! I've never known another person from outside the area to know about it! Makes me homesick for Purvis and my husband's grandmother:-) Well now that I know you have great taste, I just might have to try your pickles:-)

I simply love deep fried pickles, having first tried them at Club Elvis in Memphis, TN. They are becoming a food trend in the Mid-Atlantic States now, and I've been following. This just might be the reason for me to fight my long-standing desire to avoid deep-fat friers, because I genuinely dislike working with a skillet to fry things like this. Once there... I have a plot in my head to try deep-fat frying some of my other "pickles" as well... such as pickled green beans, pickled beets and pickled garlic cloves!

Have had deep fried whole dill pickles at Striker's (bowling, arcade, bar and grill) in Downs, KS located in North Central rural area for several years! Most popular item on the menu! You get one large fried pickle & 1/4 cup of ranch dressing.

I have always used Bisquick and beer. Just put some Bisquick in a bowl, and add beer until desired consistency. You can even add different spices to the batter; garlic, cayenne, etc. You can use carbonated water if you don't want to use beer. Yummy!

The deep fried pickles are great! Try using the same batter with potato slices instead of pickle... also great!! The local fish & chip store when I was a kid made these and called them potato turtles (because the batter does funny things sometimes and looks like a funky turtle I guess)

I make these quite often and they are great. Sometimes I'll use spears instead of slices and instead of Ranch dressing (I hate Ranch), I used honey-mustard. The combinations of tart/tangy and sweet is wild.